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Norrin Radd (Earth-616)
__TOC__ Real Name: Norrin Radd Nicknames: Skyrider, Sentinel of the Spaceways, Silverado, Chrome Dome Former Aliases: None Other Current Aliases: None Future Alias The Keeper Status Occupation: Adventurer, Former Herald of Galactus Legal Status: Citizen of Zenn-La with no criminal record Identity: Public Marital Status: Single Group Affiliation: Former member of the Defenders and Star Masters; former Herald of Galactus Base of Operations: Mobile throughout the known universe; formerly Earth and Galactus' World-Ship Origin Place of Birth: somewhere on Zenn-La, Deneb system, the Milky Way Galaxy Known Relatives: Jartran Radd (father, deceased), Elmar Radd (mother, deceased), Fennan Radd (half-brother, deceased) First Appearance: Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #48 History One of the noblest and most tormented cosmic entities in the universe, the Silver Surfer treasures freedom above all else, but has often sacrificed his liberty for the greater good. He was born Norrin Radd on the planet Zenn-La, part of an extremely long-lived and technologically advanced humanoid race which had created a worldwide utopia devoid of crime, disease, hunger, poverty, and want of any kind. Norrin's mother Elmar, ill-suited to this stifling environment, eventually killed herself. Urged on by his atypically ambitious father Jartran, Norrin was raised as a grimly intellectual youth, encouraged to seek knowledge, advancement and achievement rather than the aimless hedonism which had come to dominate Zenn-Lavian society; however, a disgraced Jartran would later commit suicide himself after he was accused of idea theft (though not before he had taken a new lover and fathered another son, Fennan, unknown to Norrin). Despite his lifelong lover Shalla-Bal, Norrin grew into a restless soul who longed for challenge and struggle, immersing himself in histories of Zenn-La's adventurous ancient past. Norrin's life changed forever when a menacing alien spacecraft pierced Zenn-La's long-neglected defense systems. Convincing a Council of Scientists member to provide him with a spaceship, Radd soon confronted the invader, Galactus, who intended to consume Zenn-La; Radd offered to become his herald and seek out new worlds for him in exchange for Galactus sparing Zenn-La. Galactus agreed, transforming Radd into a silver-skinned, cosmic-powered super-being patterned after an adolescent fantasy plucked from Norrin's memories. Known thereafter as the Silver Surfer because of the silvery flying board he rode, Radd departed Zenn-La with Galactus. The Surfer served Galactus well for many years, enjoying exploring the wonders of the universe; however, it became increasingly difficult for Radd to find energy-rich worlds devoid of sentient life. Over time, Galactus subtly altered the Surfer's mind, submerging Radd's emotions and repressing past memories. As a result, the Surfer became much more willing to lead Galactus to inhabited worlds, such as Earth. Locating Earth despite Uatu the Watcher's covert attempts to ward him off, the Surfer caused widespread panic and fought the Fantastic Four. During this conflict, the Surfer met blind sculptress Alicia Masters, who sensed his inner nobility and pleaded with him to spare humanity. His long-dormant emotions stirred by Alicia's beauty and spirit, the Surfer turned on Galactus and helped fight him off long enough for Uatu and the Fantastic Four to secure the Ultimate Nullifier, a cosmic doomsday weapon which forced Galactus to withdraw; however, Galactus punished the Surfer by trapping him on Earth, erecting an energy barrier around the planet that was uniquely attuned to the Surfer. The Surfer became a melancholy global wanderer, trying to adjust to his new home and understand its people. After a pointless skirmish with Alicia's jealous boyfriend the Thing, the Surfer was befriended and betrayed by Latverian tyrant Doctor Doom, who imprisoned Radd and stole the Surfer's power for himself; but Doom lost his new might when he collided with Galactus's barrier, and the Surfer's powers were restored. Increasingly pessimistic about humanity, the Surfer tried to befriend fellow outcast the Hulk, but the man-monster's violent temper drove him away. Next, the Surfer took pity on the Mad Thinker's abandoned sentient computer Quasimodo and gave it humanoid form, but he was forced to petrify his new creation after it proved to be criminally insane. Convinced by now that humanity was a savage race that could only survive and evolve if the planet were united against a common foe, the Surfer decided to become that foe; he terrorized the world with his cosmic powers until the U.S. military struck him down with an experimental power-draining "Sonic Shark" missile based on technology developed by the FF's Reed Richards. Humbled by the incident and shown the error of his ways by the FF, the Surfer resumed his peaceful wanderings. His powers were diminished, though they gradually returned to their original levels. Aided by the Fantastic Four, the Surfer resisted attempts by Galactus to regain his services; he also faced foes such as the alien Badoon, the demonic Mephisto (who became obsessed with breaking the Surfer's spirit), Asgardian trickster god Loki (who manipulated the Surfer into battling his brother Thor), the alternate-future Overlord, mad scientist Ludwig von Frankenstein, the ghostly Flying Dutchman, rogue Zenn-Lavian scientist Yarro Gort (who coveted Shalla-Bal for himself and died trying to destroy the Surfer), the occultist Warlock Prime, the monstrous Abomination, and the robotic Doomsday Man. One of the Surfer's few true friends during these early adventures was physicist Al B. Harper, who sacrificed his life to help the Surfer save the world from the enigmatic Stranger; the Surfer lit an eternal flame at Harper's grave in memory of his heroism. Several times during this period, the Surfer was briefly reunited with Shalla-Bal, who was used as an unwilling pawn against the Surfer by foes such as Mephisto and Gort; but circumstances always forced the lovers apart, sending Shalla Bal home each time. Increasingly frustrated by his situation and disgusted by man's inhumanity to man, the Surfer-secretly influenced by Psycho-Man-became more hostile, battling Spider-Man, Human Torch (Johnny Storm), S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Inhumans in a series of misunderstandings and misadventures; but when Doctor Doom temporarily usurped the power of Galactus, the Surfer helped defeat the villain. The Surfer formed a temporary alliance with the Hulk and Namor the Sub-Mariner to oppose a new weather technology that threatened to destroy the world; these "Titans Three" completed their mission despite the misguided interference of the Avengers, and even toppled a minor hostile dictator along the way. Namor, Hulk and Doctor Strange soon formed a more enduring heroic alliance as the Defenders, saving the world from Yandroth; they tried to recruit the Surfer for their first mission, but he was recovering from a collision with Galactus's barrier at the time. After aiding Thor against Loki's minion Durok the Demolisher, the Surfer helped the FF defeat Galactus's latest herald, the Air-Walker android, and the FF in turn protected the Surfer by trapping Galactus in the Negative Zone. The Surfer soon fell under the mental sway of Calizuma and his Warrior Wizards, agents of the demonic Undying Ones; freed from their influence by the Defenders, the Surfer helped defeat the wizards and became one of the Defenders' earliest recruits, aiding the team against foes such as the Nameless One, Attuma and the Red Ghost. At one point, a quest to restore the petrified Black Knight (Dane Whitman) led the Defenders into a conflict with the Avengers orchestrated by Loki and Dormammu. In the end, the villains were defeated and the two super-teams parted as friends, though the restless Surfer soon left the active Defenders ranks. Tricked into helping Doctor Doom create the deadly Doomsman android, the Surfer helped the FF neutralize this menace, then clashed with the vampire lord Dracula. Later, the Surfer was present at an Avengers-Defenders gathering ineffectually attacked by mind-controlled heroine Jewel (Jessica Jones). After another clash with the Hulk, the Surfer aided the Defenders against the demonic Six-Fingered Hand and their hellish masters, including Mephisto. After aiding the Avengers against the Molecule Man, declining an offer of Avengers membership, attending the funeral of seemingly deceased Defenders teammates Nighthawk and Valkyrie, and participating in another Avengers-Defenders clash orchestrated by alien menaces Nebulon and Supernalia, the Surfer finally pierced Galactus's barrier with the aid of Reed Richards and escaped Earth; but he discovered Zenn-La had been devastated by a vengeful Galactus, barely capable of supporting life. Worse yet, Shalla-Bal had been abducted back to Earth by Mephisto. Though it meant trapping himself on Earth again (since Reed's escape method would work only once), the Surfer returned to Earth and defeated Mephisto, who sent Shalla-Bal back to Zenn-La, though not before the Surfer endowed her with a portion of his cosmic power which she used to revitalize their ravaged homeworld. The Surfer helped the Defenders liberate the Squadron Supreme's alternate Earth (Earth-S, Earth-712) from the control of the demonic Null the Living Darkness, then celebrated the Hulk's brief public acceptance after gaining Bruce Banner's intellect; but the Surfer and his fellow senior Defenders Hulk, Namor and Strange were hoaxed into disbanding after the alien Tribunal convinced them their continued teamwork was fated to cause Earth's doom. The Surfer, meanwhile, helped the FF defeat the cosmic-powered Tyros (formerly Galactus's herald Terrax) and locate a missing Reed Richards, helped Earth's heroes neutralize the threat of the near-omnipotent Beyonder, and teamed with the Molecule Man to undo much of the damage done to Earth by the Beyonder. Piercing Galactus's barrier again (this time by using the Thing's simple suggestion of trying to pass through it without his surfboard), the Surfer made peace with Galactus by rescuing his current herald Nova (Frankie Raye) from the Skrulls, after which Galactus finally ended the Surfer's long exile. Radd revisited his homeworld, but Shalla-Bal had become empress of the rejuvenated Zenn-La and was not free to renew their romance. The Surfer became embroiled in fresh hostilities between the interstellar Kree and Skrull empires, and intervened in a series of plots by the Elders of the Universe, who planned to destroy Galactus-and the universe with him-in order to become the supreme powers of a new universe. The Surfer thwarted the Elders with the aid of his new love interest Mantis, the Earth-born cosmic heroine also known as the Celestial Madonna, but she seemingly died in the process; though she would later return, she never fully renewed her romance with the Surfer. Romantic sparks developed between Nova and the Surfer, whose influence gradually led Nova to question the morality of her role as a herald. Galactus finally replaced her with the far more ruthless Morg, who killed Nova during a conflict with the Surfer and most of the other ex-heralds. The Surfer has repeatedly battled space-born menaces such as Reptyl, Ego the Living Planet, Super-Skrull, Midnight Sun, Nebula, Galactus's dark counterpart Tyrant-and, perhaps most notably, Thanos, a death-worshipping rogue Eternal who wiped out half the life in the universe using the omnipotent Infinity Gauntlet before the Surfer teamed with a reborn Adam Warlock and many other heroes to seize and dismantle the gauntlet after undoing its effects. The Surfer has been allied with cosmic adventurers such as Jack of Hearts, Ganymede, Genis-Vell and Warlock's Infinity Watch, who helped the Surfer restore Shalla-Bal to life after she sacrificed herself to save Zenn-La from the supremely powerful Great One. The Surfer also partnered with Quasar, Beta Ray Bill, Morfex and Xenith to form the short-lived Star Masters team, and began participating in occasional Defenders reunions, the Tribunal's hoax having been exposed. During his travels, the Surfer also met his long-lost brother Fennan. However, Zenn-La and its people later seemingly vanished, and the Surfer was led to believe that his homeworld had been destroyed long ago by the mysterious Other, and that the Zenn-Lavian world and people he had encountered since becoming the Surfer were mere illusions. While this seems highly unlikely, Zenn-La's bizarre disappearance remains unexplained. Losing his capacity for emotion again, the Surfer returned to Earth, eventually regaining his personality during a time travel adventure and sharing a romance with Alicia Masters. They ultimately parted as friends after many adventures together, one of which pitted them against Galactus's new herald Red Shift and led to the temporary destruction of Galactus himself. When a Gaea-powered curse from a dying Yandroth mystically forced Surfer, Namor, Hulk and Strange to assemble in response to any and all threats to the Earth, the ongoing stress of this situation coupled with the subtle emotional influence of the curse itself gradually drove the four senior Defenders mad, and they attempted to rule the world as the Order in the belief that this was the most efficient way to protect the planet. Their fellow Defenders Hellcat, Nighthawk, Valkyrie and Clea teamed with other heroes-including Ardina, a cosmic-powered woman whom they mystically created from a portion of the Surfer's own energy-to oppose the Order and return them to their senses, just in time to prevent the curse from rendering a resurrected Yandroth all-powerful. More recently, fearing a prophesied apocalypse, the Surfer worked with the alien Annunaki race to gather and protect some of Earth's most extraordinarily gifted children; in the end, one of those children-Ellie Waters-saved Earth from the godlike Marduk entity, preventing the apocalypse and reordering reality as if the Marduk crisis had never happened, though Ellie apparently retains her memories of these events. The Surfer has resumed his interstellar wanderings, but remains ready to aid his adopted homeworld should Earth ever need him. The Keeper In an alternate future, Silver Surfer came to wield the Quantum Bands and was trained by Aron in their use. Now calling himself the Keeper, Norrin joined the band of adventurers known as the Guardians of the Galaxy. Characteristics Height: 6'4" Weight: Unknown Eyes: White Hair: None Unusual Features: The Silver Surfer's entire body is composed of a flexible, nearly indestructable, silvery material. Strength Level The Silver Surfer possesses vast superhuman strength, which he can further enhance using his Power Cosmic to a level rivaling that of an enraged Savage Hulk. At this strength level, he can lift (press) over 100 tons. Known Powers ;Invulnerability: The Silver Surfer's silvery "skin" was designed to easily withstand the rigors of deep-space travel, and thus far, it has proven to be virtually indestructible. In fact, his entire body was made highly resistant to injury, and he is thus almost invulnerable to most types of physical harm, he can even withstand the crushing pressures of a black hole. He can easily withstand great extremes in temperature, and is unbothered by the friction associated with atmospheric re-entry, and has withstood plunges into stars and even supernovae. He also routinely weathers the stresses associated with high-speed travel through space and hyperspace. His body is sustained by cosmic energy, and thus the Surfer has no need for air, food, or water. His brain, however, still occasionally requires sleep, although not nearly as often as humans do. ;The Power Cosmic: The Silver Surfer possesses vast cosmic power granted him by Galactus. He has the ability to absorb and tap ambient cosmic energy into his body at will, and expel those energies violently, or in more subtle ways. He can channel beams of energy through his hands with sufficient destructive force to destroy a small planet, or wield the energies with such finesse as to restructure the molecules of the natural dyes within a plant to change its color. The Surfer can rearrange matter to create other configurations and can even transmute elements. (such as turning a steel napkin holder into solid gold or tons of rock into harmless gas) Other uses of the Power Cosmic have included the ability to phase through objects, accelerate the evolution of lifeforms (even on a planet wide scale), see the past by peeling back the layers of time, time travel, trans dimensional travel, the manipulation or absorbtion of any form of energy or radiation, and granting limited cosmic powers to others. ;Cosmic Senses: The Surfer's senses were enhanced by Galactus, which allow him far-ranging vision (in space he can see people clearly over a light year away), the ability to see sub-atomic particles, superhuman hearing, and the ability to detect fields, traces, and concentrations of energy, and discern their natures. He also has an affinity for the life-energies of living beings, and can use his cosmic energies to boost the natural healing powers of a wounded individual, even if they are near-death. He cannot, however, raise the dead. Abilities As Norrin Radd, the Surfer was a scientist, a dreamer, and something of a philosopher. Skills which he sometimes finds quite useful. The Surfer, however, is only an average hand-to-hand combatant, depending almost entirely upon his cosmic powers in battle. ;Astro-Navigation: Silver Surfer is very skilled at space travel using his board, including navigating through black holes and space warps. When traveling to a dimension such as the Microverse, the Surfer's body seems to adapt to the correct size automatically. Weapons & Equipment ;Cosmic Surfboard: When flying, the Silver Surfer uses a construct which resembles an earthly surfboard. This "board" is made with the same silvery material that composes the Surfer's body, thus making the board almost indestructable. Few forces aside from the power cosmic itself can affect it, and if it is somehow damaged, the Surfer can easily repair it in an instant. The board is psionically linked with the Surfer's mind in some unknown fashion, and it follows his commands instantly. It apparently taps cosmic energy in much the same fashion as the Surfer himself, and although the Surfer could theoretically use the power cosmic to fly without his board, the construct enables him to do so without expending any of his own energy. The Surfer generally limits his speed to Mach 10 (ten times the speed of sound) within the outer layers of a planet's atmosphere, can attain 99.99% the speed of light in regular space, and can travel literally thousands of times lightspeed in hyperspace. Miscellaneous * Notes * Trivia * Notable Appearances *Fantastic Four #48 *Tomb Of Dracula Vol. 1, No. 50, November 1976 *The Mighty Thor Vol. 1, No. 443 Late January 1992; Featuring: Mephisto, Doctor Strange Related Articles * Galactus External Links * Marvel Directory * Complete Silver Surfer Appearance List References * ---- Category:Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Living Characters Category:Good Characters Category:Alien Characters Category:White Eyes Category:No Hair Category:Silver Skin Category:Silver Age Category:Defenders members Category:Heralds of Galactus Category:Secret Defenders members Category:Star Masters members Category:Guardians of the Galaxy members